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The study examined the role of leadership in the performance of the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) in Zimbabwe. The study employed mixed methods research, which triangulated qualitative and quantitative techniques. Respondents for the questionnaires were selected using simple random sampling. Participants for interviews were purposively selected. Written records were also used to collect data. Data from questionnaires were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS), and qualitative data were analyzed using thematic and content analysis. The study established leadership as a crucial component for NSSA’s satisfactory performance, with investment activities, service delivery, and corporate social responsibility used to gauge NSSA’s performance. The study recommended the intricate interaction of the leadership and the employees and the creation of a robust corporate governance framework to do away with political prying and enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the running of NSSA.

This study used secondary data from World Development Indicators to examine the implication of the Russia-Ukraine war on Trade relations and Foreign Direct Investment flows into other parts of the world. Data from 85 countries between 2012 and 2021 were analyzed using the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique. Findings revealed that the coefficients of export goods, international trade represented by external trade, food exports and fuel exports had positive and significant results from both panels and all the sub-regions, except for Europe, which revealed a mixed result. Conversely, results from food imports, military expenditure, fuel imports and fossil energy consumption revealed negative but significant results, except food imports in Europe showed an insignificant result. Conclusively, the findings of this study revealed that the current war has increased military expenditure, which has caused a significant setback to FDI and trade relations. This has undermined both bilateral and multilateral trade relations and cut off supply chains, markets, and value chains that have long existed before the crisis amongst countries across the globe. Therefore, world leaders should do everything possible to restore peace between these two countries because it will do the world better than their selfish desires. In addition, if the war degenerates more than this, it would not only be injurious to the global market, trade routes, economy and FDI but can lead the world to another world war. Conclusively, this study will help world countries, governments, leaders, policymakers, investors, and companies in various decision-making endeavors, including war-related decisions. World leaders with management crisis skills who can unite nations should help mediate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to restore peace. However, further studies are still required on this ongoing war for scholarly guidance as there are still limited empirical studies in the world literature regarding this crisis.

The current study sought to assess the banks in South Africa and their compliance with IT disclosures and narrating in their integrated reports for the 2021 financial year, as required by King IV. Empirical analysis was undertaken using a descriptive study based on secondary data from integrated reports of the five (5) biggest banks by asset size and market share. Data was analysed using both content analysis and descriptive statistical analysis. Findings showed no universal compliance with 80% compliance rate being recorded for various recommendations contained in Principle 12 of King IV. Thus, there remains non-compliance by 20% of studied banks with regards to various recommendations. The study recommends that banks strive to make the requisite IT disclosures in their integrated reports, particularly given the importance of such disclosures and related compliance. Further, the disclosure made by banks should be as material and comprehensive as possible and not just a tick-box kind of disclosure. This would enhance the utility of disclosures provided to stakeholders.

The primary aim of this scholarly discourse is to demonstrate how South African indigenous people advanced agricultural practices without the dominant aid of globalisation and modernity that, to a certain degree, discredits Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) that have existed from time immemorial. Qualitative research inquiry and IKS are synergetically used as approaches to this scholarly discourse to form juxtaposition and triangulation – a balancing act. The main discussions and findings of the article underline that incontrovertibly, South African indigenous people had their traditional ways of advancing human and social life such as relying on traditional medicine, farming, harvesting and many other determinants. In respect of the problematised phenomenon, the conclusion infuses recommendations for future scholarly debates while the emphasis is on embracing traditional knowledge and avoid continuous and solitary accreditation of neo-liberalist and imperialist notions in South Africa and elsewhere.

The manufacturing sector is vital in the South African economy, especially in international trade. Nonetheless, the covid-19 and fuel price fluctuations have convulsed both global and domestic production and trade. This study analsed how an increase in new cases of covid-19 and fuel price shocks affected motor vehicles export in South Africa. The assessment used monthly time series from March 2020 to March 2022. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and error correction models assisted in determining both long-run and short-run relationships among variables.  The results suggested an inverse relationship between new covid-19 cases, fuel prices and motor vehicle exports in both the long and short run.  This study recommends introducing new vehicle models that are fuel efficiency, tax and levy reduction on fuel to reduce the effect of the high fuel price of vehicles export. Increasing awareness, precaution and encouraging vaccination could assist in lowering COVID-19 infection.

This paper aims to assess the nexus of food insecurity, climate change and migration in the developing world. The world is experiencing triple challenges of food insecurity, climate change and unprecedented migration. Food insecurity as a result of climatic variabilities has a likelihood of pushing people to migrate. Interlinkages between food insecurity, climate change and human mobility should be recognised. The methodology employed in this paper is a literature review, specifically an Integrative literature review of all sources related to the topic under investigation. Findings of the study point to the fact that most of the world's poor rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood, yet this industry is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Adverse shocks to agricultural productivity due to climate changes significantly increase emigration from developing countries, with a more significant impact in low-income countries and a smaller one in middle-income countries.

This research explored the challenges impeding practitioners’ proper implementation of mathematical play practice environment using a qualitative phenomenological research approach. This study was conducted in Motheo District which is in Mangaung Municipality in the Free State with ten females who had obtained matric certificate qualification at least have three years’ experience working in the ECCE setting as the sample. This sample was purposively chosen for this research. A structured interview guide was used as tool for data collection and its trustworthiness was properly ensured. After the data had been collected, the real processing, analysis, and interpretation of the data took place. We conducted a thematic analysis of the data. With the help of this technique, we were able to analyze the unstructured interview responses and find trends and themes. It was found that the challenges impeding practitioners’ proper mathematical play practice environment are constraints to proper mathematical play in relation to indoor and outdoor resources and infrastructure; constraints emanating from practitioners’ qualifications and constraints relating to support expected from the DSD and DBE, as custodians of ECCE. This finding has practical and policy implications in the sense that the practitioners cannot effectively implement mathematical play practice environment in the presence of the identified challenges unless adequate policy framework is designed to take care of such challenges. Thus, it is recommended that the appropriate authority should design an implementable policy guideline on the use of mathematical play practice environment.

This article examines municipalities on implementation and coordination of social crime prevention programmes in addressing social issues. The White Paper on Safety and Security (1998) clearly proposed that local government should be responsible for implementing and coordinating social crime prevention programmes within areas of concern. Therefore, it is argued that the provincial government is closest to citizens and inimitably placed to contribute to social crime prevention initiatives and readdress the delivery of services to deal with crime prevention successfully. There is little information about this matter in South Africa. This article will reveal the challenges municipalities and the department of social development face on social issues. There seems to be a repetition of social programmes in addressing social issues and there are no programmes targeting youth at risk, juvenile delinquency and child-headed households’ issues. The study concludes that the municipalities should consider the review in social crime prevention strategies to better align its programmes to the provincial mandates. Municipalities should further demonstrate regularly how it responds to social issues that might perpetuate the crime rate. 

Societies` views concerning the Criminal Justice System institutions are shaped not only by opportunities to interact with such institutions during normal work but also in part by efforts due to the larger mission (of these institutions) of encouraging and supporting such attitudes. Due to the global COVID 19 pandemic, most countries have implemented a lockdown as an initiative to control the spread of the virus. South Africa is no exception as the country joined most countries and announced the national lockdown in March 2020. With the national lockdown, Criminal Justice agencies such as the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were deployed across the country to ensure compliance with the lockdown regulations. The police are the most visible and powerful arm of the state, the nature of the state and the way it is perceived has a profound impact on police-community relations and vice versa. With South Africa’s pronouncement of the national lockdown and state of emergency due to the pandemic, more inquiries and investigations into police practice during the national lockdown will be made. It is precisely in this context that this study aims to reflect on police-community relations during the national lockdown. A criminological analysis on the ramifications of the dented police-community relations due to the national lockdown will be explored. With the national lockdown regulations, clearly gazetted, this study will also employ criminological theories to further interrogate the regulations that impacted on the dented police-community relations.

Understanding Grade R teachers’ professional identities seems to be quite bleak because they are not sure where they feature in Primary schools or pre-primary schools. Their professional identities are in sport light due to the issue mentioned above.  This study explores Grade R teachers’ perceptions of their professional identity and qualifications. Grade R teachers’ professional identities are based on the collaboration between teacher education institutions and schools. However, this thinking tampers with what teaching practice is an essential prerequisite for what good teacher education requires. The study was underpinned by decoloniality theory and qualitative research within the interpretive paradigm. All the Grade R teachers participated in this study. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews. We divided the time into two hours per interview to generate data in two days to allow the teachers enough time to respond to the questions. Thematically the teachers’ voices were analyzed. The findings suggest that creating multifaceted images, community values, self-beliefs, and motivation can influence how teachers interpret their personal experiences in the program. Prominent among the results regarding the motivational aspects of teaching is a perception of the profession as granting intrinsic rewards. Teaching is perceived as, according to self-realization, providing a sense of purpose and mission and enabling lifelong development. The personal investment that is interwoven with their lived experiences before they enter the program is coupled with the three different forms of engagement, which are: participation, alignment, and imagination can translate to who they are as people that develop their identities in their career path and interactions in a teacher community at large.

This paper focuses on physically disabled children as violence victims in the Eastern Cape's rural areas. The research sample comprised 100 physically disabled children from special needs schools in Eastern Cape. These respondents were chosen according to their knowledge of the research content and experience in the context studied. The researchers used purposive sampling for selecting physically disabled respondents. The questionnaires were used to collect data and the collected data were analyzed by using SPSS Version 22 and thematically. Findings: physically disabled children are victimized due to their disability. Their disability conditions make them vulnerable to victimization. The study also finds that these physically disabled children succumbed to severe long-term effects because of their victimization. Most of the abuse/crimes committed against these children are not reported to the police. Recommendation: future research should be conducted on the victimization of physically disabled children by other physically disabled children (bullism).

The study assessed the effectiveness of On-The-Job training on the performance of employees, focusing on the Integrated Tertiary Software Users at Walter Sisulu University. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The study employed a qualitative approach, focusing on in-depth knowledge from the participants rather than numerical facts. Participants were employees from the Registrar’s division within Walter Sisulu University, and students and a sample of twelve participants were purposefully selected. Seven of the thirteen participants were employees from the same division but different units: The examinations office, the Admissions and Registration office, and one faculty officer. Six participants were students from various faculties. Data were analyzed using Atlas ti, version 9. In this study, the light was shared on the importance of On-The-Job training and its effectiveness on employee performance and productivity. The focus of the interviews was on the effectiveness of this training method, and the study found that this method is effective in upskilling recruits and existing employees. Training and employee motivation were seen as the essential elements of increasing employee performance in this technology-infused University. It has been discovered that development programs directly influence organizational effectiveness, advancement, and development is critical for an effective organization.

This study investigates factors limiting the entrepreneurial action of small-scale irrigation farmers (SSIF) at the Namibian Green Scheme Irrigation Project (GSIP).  Literature was reviewed on the concepts of the agricultural sector in Namibia, entrepreneurship action, and agricultural entrepreneurship in Namibia and elsewhere. The paper used a quantitative research approach to produce descriptive statistics of the agricultural entrepreneurs' experiences when starting and operating their projects. Data were collected using a questionnaire surveying the Etunda Green scheme irrigation project. The study used Microsoft Office Excel 2019 analysis tool pack to analyse the data. The key findings revealed that most SSIF operating at the project are obstructed by some elements of the policy environment, finance, business support services, market environment, infrastructure, and ecological factors. The study praises that sectoral connections should be strengthened, and government should prioritise and target elements that would improve the overall performance of the Namibian agricultural sector. The study offers policymakers and practitioners a blueprint for developing entrepreneurship in an agricultural context, specifically the Namibian Green Scheme Projects.

The principal aim of this article, among other crucial determinants, is to elucidate that folklore systemically can be utilised for the sustainable development of tourism in South Africa and in the global sphere. The sociological perspective, through argumentation, is deployed to debate and demonstrate how and why folklore should be gauged and appreciated as an instrument of promoting South Africa’s socioeconomic and development plan. Through the discussions and findings, it becomes evident, therein, that folklore has not been accorded the opportunity to partake in tourism in most African countries, and in particular, South Africa. Given that, it becomes part of the article’s sociological debates to conclusively demonstrate, by appointing three folklore types, how folklore can address the problematised phenomenon. The concluding remarks challenge folklore and tourism scholars to collaboratively open and continue the discourse to serve the country's just and legitimate course. The significance of the article rests on the veracity that folklore and tourism have not been scholarly positioned as complementing or corroborating components in South Africa and elsewhere in the global sphere.

School-Based Experience (SBE) is integral to teacher training in South African universities. SBE in South African universities is organized in education schools and is mandatory for all students who pursue education. This study aimed to explore how student teachers from the Economic and Management Science (EMS) discipline perceive their SBE. This study aimed at the students’ experiences and their impact on their perception of the teaching profession and assessed the challenges that students encounter while in school. The study adopted a guided reflection theoretical framework to understand student teachers’ perceptions of the SBE. A qualitative approach was employed with a purposive sampling of 10 second-year EMS student teachers. Data was collected through individual interviews and analysed using Content Analysis (CA), and categorised using thematic analysis. The study's findings revealed that student teachers perceived SBE as impactful, providing an opportunity to gain school experience and put theory into practice in their teaching profession. Moreover, the findings revealed that student teachers experience challenges while on SBE, such as a lack of school resources, unpreparedness, and poor organizational skills. The study recommended that more support be provided for SBE student teachers.

In South Africa, members of the South African Police Services (SAPS) are constitutionally mandated to protect society. However, while executing their duties, they continuously experience an alarmingly high rate of attacks from alleged criminals, often leading to the death of SAPS members. Subsequently, this situation increases the staff shortage for patrolling the streets and arresting criminals. The situation's aftermath also leads to increasing community perceptions that crime is out of hand and that crime prevention strategies are ineffective. This study examined the ordeal of police victimization in the Mthatha Policing Cluster, Eastern Cape, South Africa. A questionnaire was used for data collection from 105 respondents. The non-probability sampling method was used and the study employed the snowball sampling technique. Results reveal that victimization of law enforcement officers is a reality. The research questions that guided this study included: What are the upheld views by police officers of their victimization? Which factors make police to be susceptible to victimization while executing their duties? What is the impact of police victimization on policing society at large? Altogether, 80.8% of respondents revealed that police are being robbed and assaulted, and in some instances, the use of the K*** word is evident. SAPS members are not fulfilling their mandate because they fear being killed while executing their duties. In the study, new strategies are highly recommended for curbing crime, and police need to be empowered with new, modern techniques of policing.

South African legislation does not obligate companies to fulfill their corporate social responsibilities. Understanding the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on social inclusivity is crucial in ensuring trade-offs between companies and the citizens residing where development takes place. There is a need for a national consensus on a CSR policy framework within a social cohesion and nation-building compact. The inclusion of the legislation for ensuring compliance towards fulfilling the purpose of the country’s sustainable development agenda is fully referred to in the discussion. The unparalleled position requires collective energies with the public to actualize strategies. This chapter underpins the importance of having CSR as a standalone legislation and seeks to contribute to the world of science by leveling the ground with the rhetoric discussion. The document analysis was the backbone for a qualitative research methodology where the related intricacies were revealed. The research will embark on an empirical investigation to publish evidence-based results based on the document analysis and legislative framework. The gap of a lack of legislation in South Africa has been identified notwithstanding the related legislation, which corroborates the direction the country is taking towards CSR. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on sustainable development on the transformation agenda. However, this study is limited in the sense that it did not embark on a largescale data collection from the implementers and the communities for empirical research which could be measured. This shall be employed in future research for evidence-based information and knowledge sharing.

Recently, development has taken center stage as it encapsulates an intrinsic aspect of human life. Development is a fundamental requirement for improving the material conditions of communities that contend with abject poverty across all spheres of their lives. It is conversely justifiable that understanding development within the context of service delivery is indispensable and could be considered the backbone towards socioeconomic and political upliftment of the masses. This social science research study examines the frigidity of the district municipalities towards improving the needs of society. This study seeks to closely unpack the challenges that negatively impact ordinary citizens' livelihoods to access the services as their fundamental and constitutional rights. The frigidity of district municipalities to render services violates the citizens' fundamental human rights and undermines constitutional supremacy. The primary focus of this study is on disentangling the issues which have a negative bearing on development initiatives to be undertaken by the district municipalities. This study further navigates the social ills through a lens that would, in turn, reveal and expose the key stumbling blocks which deter infrastructure and socio-economic development by district municipalities. This qualitative study embraces a phenomenological approach to fulfill the descriptive observation of the phenomenon under investigation. Data was collected through phenomenological observations and focus groups among the respondents. This study postulates the essential recommendations that would inform policy shift and policy reform as fundamental approaches to development that respond squarely to service delivery.

This study was designed to analyze the predictors of the academic performance of distance e-learners. The population consisted of all distance learners in the university study centers in the South-West geopolitical zone. The sample of the study was made up of 1025 respondents from the university, which were selected using a purposive sampling technique. A mixed-method approach was used for the collection of data. This study applied ordinal regression analysis in searching for the best predictors among the variables under investigation in predicting the academic performance of distance e-learners. A quantitative approach was used to determine the best predictors. In contrast, a qualitative approach was used to support the quantitative results and reveal other variables not covered in the questionnaire. Results showed that five variables best predicted academic performance, and together they explained 10% of the variance in academic performance after considering all the rules that guide ordinal regression analysis. Frequency of engagement with information and communication technology (ICT) was found to be the strongest predictor, followed by students’ ICT literacy levels, marital status, previous academic performance and entry qualification. Based on the study's findings, it was recommended that policymakers and educational stakeholders fully support the implementation of e-learning in Nigerian universities.

Recently, demographic factors that influence financial literacy have become increasingly important for policymakers than ever before. The primary purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between demographic factors and financial literacy among adults in a rural and low-income areas of South Africa. The objectives were to determine which gender uses a budget, which age cohort keeps copies of financial documents, which category of education level is saving for retirement, and the correlation between education level and saving for retirement. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to analysed data. The results showed that males used a budget more than females by a low margin. Adults struggled to keep copies of financial documents; however, adults between the ages of 41-50 kept copies of financial documents the most. Those with matric were better savers for retirement than other levels of education, besides the fact that most adults were not saving for retirement. The study also revealed a negative correlation between education level and retirement savings. Thus, the relationship between demographic factors and financial literacy was negative. The study concludes by suggesting interventions that could help adults improve their financial literacy and manage and sustain their financial well-being.